CHENNAI: On February 23, the Supreme Court upheld changes made to the All India Anna Dravida Kazhagam (AIADMK) party's bylaws in July of the previous year. 

The ruling on a number of appeals relating to the changes made to the AIADMK party bylaws that resulted in the selection of Edappadi K Palaniswami (EPS) as the party's interim general secretary was made by a bench of justices composed of Dinesh Maheshwari and Hrishikesh Roy.

This would be a significant blow for O Panneerselvam (OPS), who has been fighting the bye-law changes that made his status as the party's coordinator meaningless. The decision was made one day before the late Jayalalithaa, the party's supreme leader. Although the bench affirmed the party's bye-law revisions, other matters, such as their legality, remain unresolved.

Following the amendments that resulted in the designation of EPS as the party's interim general secretary and eliminated the position of Party Coordinator, held by Panneerselvam, both party leaders petitioned the Supreme Court. While the latter disputed the changes, EPS aimed to maintain the bye-laws. On July 11, 2022, EPS was appointed the interim General Secretary of AIADMK during the General Council meeting. This is when the conflict between EPS and OPS began. 

Until that point, OPS served as the coordinator while EPS served as the joint coordinator in the AIADMK. On June 14, a call for a unified party leadership surfaced, sparking a power struggle between the two leaders. The Madras High Court prevented the party's General Council from adopting any new resolution on unitary leadership, hence the General Council meeting on June 23 was called without any revisions.

The meeting, however, was filled with high drama as OPS dealt with protests, abuse, and bottles thrown at him and his supporters. Later, the Supreme Court gave the party unrestricted permission to convene the gathering. After that, on July 11, the general council meeting of the party was held, at which resolutions to amend the party's bylaws and do away with its dual leadership structure were presented. Palaniswami was chosen to serve as the party's interim general secretary during this meeting.

Conflicts erupted between the followers of the competing leaders as Panneerselvam and his supporters arrived at the AIADMK office to stake their claim after the meeting chose Palaniswami as the interim General Secretary. Because to this, the headquarters was sealed, and the two leaders were expelled from the party. 

Eventually, the Madras High Court commanded Palaniswami to get the office's keys. The two have filed legal applications in response to this occurrence and the nomination of EPS as interim general secretary, and the Madras High Court and the Supreme Court have issued numerous rulings in connection with these concerns. After a thorough hearing of both sides, the bench of justices Maheshwari and Roy reserved the decision on January 11.

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